That headline might not fit the copy below, but there’s no doubt DU sophomore goalie Jussi Olkinuora is pumped to play the rival CC Tigers this weekend, on Friday (Denver) and Saturday (Colorado Springs). On Nov. 16, Olkinuora was credited with the 6-5 win over CC in the Springs, blowing a 6-2 lead and then being assessed a game-misconduct and one-game suspension for fighting at the buzzer. The former walk-on from Helsinki will at least play Friday (unofficially) and might again get both starts (he has started eight of the last nine games for DU).

DU is a tie shy of reclaiming the Gold Pan as the four-game, regular-season winner in this series.

We’ll have much, much more on Olkinuora in Friday’s paper and online. Here’s a leftover element I couldn’t squeeze into the story: The last goalie to walk-on to a major NCAA Division I team and make an impact like Olkinuora is … Shawn Hunwick, younger brother of Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick. Shawn played four years at Michigan, beginning as the No. 3 guy, and got his chance as a junior and and ultimately led the Wolverines to the Frozen Four last spring. He went 24-12-3 last season, with a 2.00 GAA and .925 SP.

Olkinuora is 9-2-4 this season, with a .195 GAA and .939 SP. He nor the coaching staff like to label him as the “No. 1 guy,” ahead of senior Adam Murray and junior Sam Brittain, but I like to call it like it is.

Surprised he’s the No. 1 guy for the Pioneers?

“When you say the word ‘surprise’ maybe you’re not giving credit to the player,” DU associate head coach Steve Miller said of Olkinuora’s current role on the team. “Anything is possible when you get an opportunity. You work, you work hard every day, and you really compete, I think anything can happen.”

Besides Hunwick, Miller and I couldn’t think of another goalie who has made such a big impact for a big-league college team, after joining it as a walk-on. Very rare indeed.

DU goalies Sam Brittain and Juho Olkinuora will trade starts in this weekend’s home-and-home Gold Pan series with Colorado College. Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky declined to identify Friday’s starter in Colorado Springs, but ruled out Adam Murray, who has another groin injury and is out indefinitely. Brittain (2-1, .922), a junior, and the sophomore Olkinuora (2-0, .943) are considered one of the country’s top goaltending tandems.

Meanwhile, sophomore forward Larkin Jacobson (team suspension) remains out indefinitely and freshman defenseman Nolan Zajac (lower-body injury) is probable Friday. Zajac, a super playmaker from the back end, missed Saturday’s 3-2 series-sweeping victory at Minnesota State for precautionary reasons. He is tied for third on the team with eight points (two goals).

Look for what is shaping up to be a big story in Friday’s paper and online about the DU recruiting pipeline from the Colorado Thunderbirds, the state’s top triple-A program. All seven of the DU players from Colorado are on scholarship and played for the T-Birds, and there is more on the way. CC is expecting three former T-Birds within the next two years, and there is more than 50 T-Birds alumni playing across North American in Division I, the Canadian Hockey League, Division III and junior-A.

Wednesday’s “super league” announcement in Colorado Springs will dramatically change the college hockey landscape, including how I cover the NCAA Tournament. The chosen ones — 2011 NCAA Tournament participants DU, CC, North Dakota, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha — will publicly announce their intentions to split from the WCHA and CCHA, respectively, and form a star-studded start-up league that they hope will eventually include Notre Dame by the time it debuts for the 2013-14 season.

On one hand, I love this move because the super league will make a fine non-conference scheduling partner with the Big Ten (Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State). So the primary team I cover, DU, will mostly be playing big-time hockey programs on national or regional television.

The Big Ten will have the Big Ten Network, and the super league is rumored to have reached a deal — or will undoubtedly reach a deal with Notre Dame in the mix — with Versus/NBC to complement the network’s NHL weekday coverage.

If that’s the way it unfolds, I might have a better chance of covering Air Force in the NCAA Tournament than the Pioneers or CC Tigers. That is, if the NCAA Tournament doesn’t tweak its computer selection model and increase the reward for strength of schedule and quality wins.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Greetings from the World Arena, where DU visits the CC Tigers tonight in the home-and-home series finale. The Pios, who won 4-1 on Friday at Magness Arena, are looking for the sweep. CC is looking to avoid its fourth straight loss and sixth in its last seven games.

Word from DU’s radio guys is the Pios had a tough bus ride down Interstate 25. The bus had no AC, which wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t 75-plus degrees today. Apparently coach George Gwozdecky allowed his team’s dress code to slip, to avoid his boys from sweating too bad. Also, the driver took a left at the Colorado College exit, and needed to be reminded that the Tigers play their games further SOUTH off Circle Drive.

Meanwhile, no lineup changes for DU, which is 3-1-1 since getting swept by Boston College Oct. 15-16. The Pioneers are a respectable 4-3-1 in their brutal, 10-game, season-opening stretch. If they finish 5-3-1, nobody will be complaining — particularly because four freshmen are playing such big-time roles.

DU will again have freshman goalie Sam Brittain between the pipes on Friday when the Pios begin a home-and-home series against the CC Tigers. Looks like “Great Brittain” will also make his career debut at the Colorado Springs World Arena for Game 2 on Saturday.

Yes, sophomore Adam Murray has been practicing this week and looks fine, but coach George Gwozdecky said he’s not completely healed from the groin injury that had him scratched in the past four games. Sounds like Murray will serve as emergency backup Friday, although I don’t think emergency is the right word. He will be in the lineup and available.

“When he’s healthy and ready to go he’ll probably get back in a game,” Gwozdecky said of Murray. “He’s not 100 percent yet.”

Brittain, the 18-year-old from Calgary, has gone 2-1-1 in the Pioneers’ last two series against Wisconsin and North Dakota. He was named WCHA rookie of the week after the 4-2 win and 2-2 tie against the Badgers, and WCHA defensive player of the week after the 4-3 loss and his first career shutout (3-0) against the Sioux.

“It’s been awesome, coming in a freshman and getting those four (consecutive) games under my belt and proving to myself I can play at this level, especially at these hostile environments,” Brittain said. “It’s been huge, a lot of fun.”

Said Murray: “Sam’s playing well right now. I’m proud of him. He’s been working hard . . . As long as he’s running with it I can’t be too upset, but I’m just hoping to get my shot here pretty soon.”

Added Brittain: “Things don’t change for me. I just have to keep playing my best, whether coach decides who’s playing what game or how that’s going to work out. I still have to give the team a chance to win. Adam is back and he’s definitely looked good in practice. He’s ready to go. We both have to be ready to go.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.